


Ocarina of Lime

by fragile_vampire



Category: The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Adventure, Allegories, Cute, F/F, Female Link, Female Link (Legend of Zelda), Femslash, Femslash Multi-Ship, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Girl Link, Girls With Swords, Humor, Lime, Link gets so many girlfriends, Link the disaster lesbian, Nintendo - Freeform, Politics, disaster lesbian, multi-ship, speedrun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:41:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 19,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24403732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fragile_vampire/pseuds/fragile_vampire
Summary: Link x Everyone, but Link is a girl--Baby gay girl!Link has many girlfriends in this incredibly indulgent lime-fic based loosely on the events of Ocarina of Time.
Relationships: Female Link/Zelda, Impa/Link (Legend of Zelda), Link/Malon (Legend of Zelda), Link/Nabooru, Link/Ruto (Legend of Zelda), Link/Saria, Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Navi/Great Fairy
Comments: 3
Kudos: 32





	1. Link (15f) Gets a Fairy!

_"The fate of the forest, nay, all of Hyrule, rests with that girl."_

_"How can the fate of the world rely on such a lazy girl?"_

_"Young **Navi** , thou already knowst what she is. Go to her, and awaken her destiny..."_

Link rolled out of her bed and stretched her limbs with a yawn. What a remarkable dream she just had. There was an evil king, a princess in distress, and some ninja warriors? Crazy. And when she woke up, she swore she heard someone yelling in her ear. Her eyes darted around the small tree-house. There was no one there, so she began to get dressed. She lumbered over to her dressing drawer and tossed a conical green cap over her head.

" _Hey!!_ What the fuck?" A muffled voice came from above her. Link let out a high-pitched scream. She flailingly grabbed her hat and threw it across the room as she tripped backwards, landing on her butt while a white glowing object bounced around in her hat.

"Ohmygreatdeku," she said, "What is that?"

"I am not a _that_ ," the object spoke. "I am a _fairy_." The fairy spoke with great injury. It lifted the cap and threw it aside, revealing its full form. It was something strange, almost like a winged, insectly Kokiri girl. But Link had never seen a Kokori so small. She had also never seen one with such large breasts. "Don't ever put me in your hat again. Fairies hate the dark," she said, emphasizing her disdain by tossing about her silver hair, which reached all the way down to her kneecaps - a whole three inches.

"I-I'm sorry," Link stammered. She looked away and faced the drawer. "Why is there a tiny naked lady in my room?" she asked it.

"Excuse me," the fairy spoke. She flew across the room and landed on top of the drawer and looked down at her with hands on her hips. Link lowered her gaze avoidantly. "Clearly you aren't grasping the concept very well, so I'll make this as clear as possible: you, **Link** of the **Kokiri** , finally got your own fairy, at the ripe age of fifteen. Congratulations. You're officially the latest bloomer in all of Kokiri history."

"If you're a fairy," Link spoke while standing up and going to pick up her hat, "Then why don't you look like any of the other fairies in town?" she asked. "Like glowing white blobs. You know, how a fairy looks?"

The fairy made a point of flying across the room to show her that she was rolling her eyes. "Duh, because I'm _your_ Fairy," she explained. "Each fairy's true form can only be seen by her own Kokiri."

"Hmm," said Link. She was beginning to catch up. She absently began fixing her hair in a tiny mirror. 

"And since I'm apparently destined to be partnered forever with the most dim-witted bumpkin of all time, then the sooner we get out the door the better. The **Great Deku Tree** has called us to His presence."

"What for?"

"A great quest. A quest of adventure, slaying the forces of evil as they manifest throughout Hyrule, and protecting the **Triforce** from the terrible men who would corrupt it!"

Link raised one of her bushy brown eyebrows, but not in curiosity. She was plucking beneath it. "I don't really know any Triforce," she said. "Or adventure, or any particularly evil men. I don't need that kind of life. And I certainly don't need a fairy," she angled her gaze at the little thing buzzing around her. "I have gotten by so far without one."

"Maybe you're not getting it," the fairy said frustratedly. "You and I have been called on a quest. The Gods have chosen us to tell a great story that will change the fate of Hyrule. There's nothing that _you_ can do to undo that fact. There's nothing even I, _a magical being_ , can do about it. And believe me, if there _was_..." she began, and trailed off for dramatic effect.

"Well, I can't go on any quests," Link stated. "Not today, certainly. There's tons of grass for me to deal with at Mido's place. And if I don't do the grass, then I don't get any money. And then it's no deku seed cereal for me," she added. "You do understand eating, right?" She interrogated the fairy with a hint of sass, although in truth she had no idea what went into a fairy or out.

The fairy scoffed. "You really have no idea, do you?"

"Not in the slightest," Link confirmed, fixing up her outfit. "I'm going over to Mido's. If you would be a good fairy and go tell the Great Deku Tree He has the wrong girl... well, maybe then he can get back to finding the right one," she concluded, stepping out into the sunlight of her front porch.

"Oh! _Just_! You know-- AAHHHHH," the fairy screamed, fling off into the distance, leaving Link to her own.

"Whew," Link exhaled, sitting down on her front porch. "Last I'll see of her."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is for fun, so enjoy only if you want something whimsical, mildly humorous, and clumsily cute, like in the way teenagers fail to comprehend their own emotions and do stupid or chaotic things


	2. In Which Link Jumps Off a Ladder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link jumps off a ladder in this one

Link kicked her skirted legs out over the ladder that connected her house to the ground. The forest air was thick with pollen. It was temperate and humid beneath the canopy of the towering trees that enveloped it. Flowery moss floated down from the tops of the higher trees, disseminating their ethereal warmth to the forest floor below. The lawn beneath was rife with uneven grass, carved into by paths that zig-zagged haphazardly. The grass was young - younger than Link perhaps. But the trees above her could be thousands of years old or more, she reckoned. Everything in the forest moved with one great eternal breath. Its heartbeat pulsed without pause. Nothing changed in the forest, because nothing needed to. No one came in, and no one left. Link exhaled as she picked up her boots and prepared to put them on, but took pause when she saw a girl walking her way on the ground twenty feet below and waving.

"Yahoo!" she called.

"Saria," responded Link. This was one of her neighbors: a fellow Kokiri named **Saria**. She was Link’s favorite neighbor. They were almost the same age, and they grew up together. 

"What a coincidence, running into you here," Saria replied.

"This is my own house though," Link said confusedly as she began lacing up her boots.

"It is, isn't it?" Saria giggled. "Hey, come down here, I've got something to show you."

"Will it take long?" Link had to get going if she was to complete her grass duties at Mido’s today. It was not a great start to a morning so far, as far as timeliness goes.

"Well... why, are you in a hurry?"

Link finished the last bow on her high-laced boots and stood up at the top of the ladder. With a petite vocalization, she hopped from the porch and landed to the ground with a roll.

"No, I'm always ahead of time," she recited casually.

Saria jumped back with the smallest giggle. "There _is_ a ladder, you know."

"Ladders are for going up."

Saria covered her mouth as she laughed. Her fairy floated peacefully around her, like it was in tune with her very breath. While Link never got a fairy - still hadn’t! - Saria was very young when she got hers. Even though she and Link had grown up together since childhood, Link could hardly remember a time when she didn't have her own fairy with her.

"You are a strange one, Link," she said with small tears in her eyes. Link frowned uncomfortably and looked down. Saria reached out to touch her chin to meet her eyes with her own lavender eyes, which were at the height of Link's shoulders. "In a good way," she clarified. Link averted her gaze. Saria was so often nice to her, and it was always as confusing as it was comforting.

"So, what did you want to show me?"

Saria shifted her stance and wiggled her legs shyly. "Oh, it's nothing, actually," she said.

"Oh, alright," said Link, already beginning to walk past her. "Well, it's nice to see you, Saria," she said. Saria raised a hand, but Link was already well on her way to wherever she was going before she could do anything about it.

"It's nice to see you... too," Saria called from a distance. She kicked herself lightly as she went.

As Link pranced through the Kokiri village she hopped over little pools of water, leaping from stone to stone. It was fun to see if she could step on each one as she went. She passed other Kokiri on her way, but she didn't bother to wave. Most of her neighbors would simply ignore her as she went by, and those were the polite ones. After all, she was the Kokiri without a fairy, and that made her weird. She was a rare, unsightly abomination, and an affrontation to regular Kokiri life. If only she had a fairy, she could fit in with them.

Well, she could've. But at what cost? That fairy from her house was no deal. She was so annoying and weird, talking nonsense about a Triforce and what not. Link decided if she was meant to have a fairy, she would've had one already.


	3. Mido is the powerhouse of the cell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's an old meme but it checks out

"Hnng, hnng," grunted Link as she yanked at the weeds around Mido's house. It was exhausting work, but she never tired of it. Weeds grew like crazy in the Kokiri forest, and it was only by painstaking process that they were ever removed. Link's great strength relative to the other Kokiri was a valuable asset. She was the only one who could lift out the sturdiest roots. She was in fact the best weeder in town, and weeding was a lively business.

She stopped to wipe the sweat from her eyebrows, which she wished she had had more time to trim this morning. As she sat down and rested on a rock she gazed at the tremendous amount of greenery that remained for her to remove. She took off her hat and let her golden hair flow in the breeze, recalling what a strange and alarming morning she had - and starting with her dream. Why would she dream of places and characters she had never met? And then a fairy comes to her?

Maybe she was being stubborn. She liked the quiet. It let her focus on the peaceful sounds of the forest. But if she had a fairy, then she would fit in. If she had a fairy, she wouldn’t be a weirdo anymore. If she had a fairy, she could be the same as Saria, and people wouldn’t be mean to her about it.

"Hey!" came a voice from the distance. Something was levitating a large bladed object into the air and bringing it towards her. It was the fairy from this morning. It panted as she dropped the blade at Link's feet. "Look," it said, out of breath.

"What, do you have a knife?" Link squinted.

" _No_!" Yelled the fairy affrontedly. "How can you be so uninformed? This is the Kokiri Sword! The sword which holds the destiny of this village!"

Link picked up the weapon with attention. "It looks like a really big knife."

"It's a _sworrrrr-dah_. The only one in this entire forest."

"I wonder if I can cut grass with it," Link speculated while picking it up and walking swiftly over to the shrubbery.

"Are you serious," the fairy groaned. "Why is everything grass with you? Hmm? What do you even like about this place that you don't want to leave it? What even are you?"

Link raised the sword in the air and with a few quick slashes cleared out a large patch of grass. "I'm a collector," she said, kneeling down and examining the undressed earth. "This thing really works," she remarked, quite impressed with the tool. She picked out some items that lay exposed by the shaved greenery. "See, I like collecting nuts, and sticks, and sometimes there's even these really rare bugs in there," she explained. "And look! Money!'' She picked up a green rupee covered in dirt and showed it to the fairy. "It's all a Kokiri needs."

"You're not a Kokiri!" the fairy yelled suddenly. Link blinked . She looked at her fairy with a mix of disdain and fear. She had considered once before the possibility that she was something different from her peers. But she rejected it. She was born in the woods, and ordained by the Great Deku Tree. Maybe she didn’t look like a Kokiri, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t one.

"Who are you to tell me what I am?" she replied.

"I'm **Navi**. I am your fairy, and by the way, you're welcome for finding your sword," she said while turning away from Link with clenched fists. Then she turned about and faced her apologetically. "You must be very confused by all this. I'm sorry. But, _please_ , trust me, I am trying to help you," she insisted. "I'm sorry if it doesn't come across."

Link exhaled. "Well, I'm not confused," she affirmed. "You are the confused one. But I will thank you for the grass-cutting tool," she added.

"The WHAT?"

"And by the way, I'm sorry if I offended you before. I never really expected to have a fairy at all, so I was a little surprised when you showed up. But, since you're here, you're welcome to stick around while I do some weeding." Link reeled around and prepared to swing at the grass once more. The moment she lunged the sword forward, however, Navi landed on top of it and stared her in the face.

" _Hello_?! Listen, I'm not a gardening fairy. I am an adventure fairy! I wasn't meant to stick around in these woods my whole life. This _sword_ was not meant to stick around in this forest. Its destiny -- your destiny - is to leave! You are a **Hylian** girl. This sword is a Hylian weapon. You must take it. You have no choice!"

Link just stared at her. She lowered the sword to her waist in resignation. "I can't leave," she spoke. "Even if I may be... something else... I..."

Navi flew up to her face and rolled her eyes. "Eugh," she groaned. "Is it a guy?" she guessed flatly.

Just then, a small boy appeared on the lawn. It was **Mido**. "Hey weirdo, did you do my grass yet? I've been waiting for hours."

Navi cringed. "... that guy?" she asked with horror.

Link shook her head dismissively. "See for yourself, Mido." She gestured to the lawn, which now lay desolate with sliced leafage.

"Damn..." said Mido. "What the... how? Hmm." He walked around examining the damage. "Well, as we agreed, you can keep anything you found in the grass," he said resignedly, fighting to admit that Link had done a good job.

Link smiled and picked up her pouch of collected goodies, and soon was on her way, with Navi floating right behind her.

"No way," gaped Mido. "You got a fairy?" Link nodded. "Well isn't that great," he snarked. "Better late than never, right?"

"You know very well how I am always ahead of time," Link said graciously, turning to leave again.

"Just stay away from Saria, okay?" Link paused in confusion at the seemingly non-sequitur request. She didn't know what he meant by it. Mido spoke like he was afraid. But of what? Link simply nodded to confirm that she had heard him and went on her way.


	4. Link bonks her head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry Link you're just gonna have to live with that

"You'll let me know when we see, 'the guy', right?" Navi asked her. Link didn't respond. "Who is that Mido fellow, anyway? Friend of yours?"

"Employer," Link explained. "I don't have friends."

Navi sighed with a hint of frustration. "Come on, Link, it's so obvious you're not one of them." Link hopped over some stones on her way to the singular shop in town. She was content to ignore her fairy' accusations. "How old is Mido?" Navi inquired.

"Thirty-five," Link said.

"And he's still the likeness of a boy. You see, Kokiri don't grow up. They are born into this forest of the Great Deku Tree, to never grow old. You will grow old. You are not one of the Kokiri, but of Hylia that the Deku Tree let into this forest so that you could grow into adulthood safely. But if you continue to stay here and become a grown woman, you could upset the balance of the forest." Link walked by a group of Kokiri girls that were pointing and gossiping about her, presumably because she had a fairy. 

"There is no room in this village for a Hylian," Navi finished, whispering it into her ear with a hiss.

"Preposterous," Link dismissed, while ducking her head sideways to fit through the archway that marked the entrance of the shop. "What's a Hylian, anyway?" she mumbled to herself. 

"Deku seeds, please," she said, raising her voice to address the shopkeeper as she placed her satchel on the counter. Today she was rich - with the help of her new lucky grass-cutting knife, she had collected enough rupees to buy everything in the whole store. "And a satchel, she added," pointing to a brown belted purse on the highest shelf. "I'm going to need something to carry around all the things I'm getting, right?"

"And a shield!" Navi roared. She had flown up to a shelf, where she was pushing a round, brown and red-marked shield off of it and onto the counter.

"And a shield," Link echoed tentatively to the shopkeeper. She didn't know what she would need it for yet, but perhaps she could use it for chopping veggies. She poured her pouch of gems empty and pushed them across the counter. Once accepted, she picked up the satchel and strew it across her waist. "What do you think?" she asked her fairy.

"Well, it's quite fetching," came a voice, but not from Navi. 

"Hmm?" Link turned around. "Oh. Hi Saria," she mumbled with a muted smile.

"I like the whole outfit," she glanced up and down her body as she walked in her direction. "You've got a sword," she noticed. "There's not a lot of those around here." Her eyes wandered over to Navi. "And is that- is that a **fairy**?" She gasped with a double take as Link nodded with pink on her cheeks. Saria threw arms around her in celebration.

"Oh my Great Deku, congratulations!"

"Thanks," said Link, feeling pink seep into her cheeks. Navi flew around her examinatorily.

"Oh, so this is the..." she began. Link slipped her eyes away from her interrogative gaze. "Oh? Oh! But she's not even that cute," Navi decided. Link furrowed her eyebrows with affront as Saria let her go. She was glowing as she looked back at her, and Link tried to ignore Navi's arbitrations.

"I'm so happy for you," Saria said as they walked towards the exit of the shop together. "I always knew you would get one."

Link let out a deep breath. "That makes one of us," she said, walking towards the exit. Unfortunately, she hit her head on the archway of the exit. Saria let out a yelp of concern, but Link brushed it off without consequence, even though her forehead throbbed. Saria reached out to touch her head, which made Link uncomfortable. She liked the way Saria’s fingers felt. She liked the way they brushed beneath her hair, and she liked the way they softly mended her bruise. 

She made her feel good about herself. She was so sure in her kindness, and so deliberately genuine. It was more than she deserved.

"Really, she's a _seven_ if I'm generous," Navi continued. "I mean she smells nice, but if that's all you're sticking around for-"

"Ca- can you hear her?" Link asked Saria, pointing at her fairy alarmedly while hopping out into the forested sunlight. Saria shook her head with a smile.

"Dum-dum, I'm _your_ fairy, and I'm speaking in your head. When I'm speaking out loud, I sound totally different. You'll know the difference."

Link sighed with some relief. 

"You'll get used to all the things that come with having a fairy," Saria assured her.

Link smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I'm sorry, she's just... so annoying," she said, glaring at Navi.

"I want to celebrate," Saria declared. "Remember how we used to lie down on that rooftop and look at the stars through the tops of the trees and imagine climbing up there to get a better view?" She pointed to the rooftop across from the shop.

Link nodded. "Yes, I could never forget," she confessed.

"Meet me there at sundown," Saria proposed, with a shimmer in her eyes.

"Mmk," Link responded.

Saria grabbed her hand. "Promise?"

How could she not?

"Promise," she affirmed. 

She didn't know why, but saying the word 'promise' struck her heart with music. Every day was a promise of Saria. Saria would never be far from her, and that made her life in Kokiri Village livable. When she saw Saria smile, it was all she needed to be happy. When Saria looked at her tenderly, it made her feel at home. And when she touched her…

As she walked off with sword and shield and satchel attached, Link fell into a dreamlike state of wonder, thinking how lucky she was to be born in such a magical place. To be born alongside such a magical person.

"Look, I'm only going to say this because I care about you," Navi interjected in her head. "But what you feel about Saria, she doesn't feel about you. And yes, I can hear your thoughts," she added. "Don't burden yourself with your attachment to her. The feelings you have... they are not something that a Kokiri can understand."

Link turned around and walked backwards, facing her fairy with affront to her accusation. "What do you know of feelings?" she disputed. "Are you saying Kokiri are incapable of love?"

"Link... you are becoming a young woman. Kokiri are never to grow into such a thing. She will never love you like you want her to."

Link shook her head. "That's not fair. Why should it be that way?"

"You are right. It is not fair - not to you, or that Kokiri girl. If you go to that rooftop tonight, one of you will leave with a broken heart."

"No, no," Link closed her eyes. She pushed every thought of unbelonging out of her mind. "She's Kokiri, just like me. And if I am capable of this feeling, then she is too," she affirmed for herself. 

Navi sighed as she floated to a pool of water. "Look," she said, pulling her over to the pond. "Look at your reflection, and tell me you see a Kokiri in there," she levied. Link looked and saw a tall young woman with golden wavy hair, dressed in a Kokiri tunic. She was armed with a large knife and a cutting board. No, it was inescapably a sword and shield. Navi hovered above the surface of the water with anticipation.

"I've got a fairy, haven't I?" Link recused. "That makes me Kokiri. A tall, blue-eyed Kokiri." She nodded with false surety.

Navi pressed her head into her hands. "You're not Kokiri. You said it yourself: you're a collector. And there is so much out there in the great large world waiting for you to collect."

"I have everything I need here."

"You don't have anything to- _WATCH OUT_!" Navi suddenly glowed yellow and flew past Link's ear with a burst of wind.

Link automatically raised her shield and turned around. It was just in time to stop a large carnivorous plant from biting into her shoulder.

"It's a Snappy-snappy Plant!" she exclaimed. She had encountered these before. They usually grew on the edges of the village. They could pop out anywhere, though, and it was never her intention to come this close to one.

Navi rolled her eyes. "It's a **Deku Baba** ," she corrected, hovering near it and gesturing to its underbelly. "The weak spot is its neck. Wait until it's exposed, and then strike with your sword!"

Link held her shield steady as the plant came at her again. The plant's fangs collided with her shield once more and sent her sliding backwards while reeling the plant's head back, leaving its long vine of a body vulnerable to a strike. She jumped into the air with a "Yaah!" and swung her sword horizontally across the plant's vines, bisecting the creature and rendering it lifeless.

Link's heart raced with adrenaline. She was scared, for sure, but deep down, there was also a part of her that was blossoming with excitement as she used her sword and shield to defeat the creature. "How did you do that?" she asked the fairy with wide eyes.

" _Adventure fairy_ ," she reminded her. "I’m equipped with the ability to guide the sword and shield of an adventurer to protect them from harm. I can make even the clumsiest swordswoman a decent fighter," she said smugly. “But, you still gotta do the dirty work. Team effort and all." She looked under her miniature fingernails and picked out some dirt. "Ohh," she whined.

"Am I a swordswoman?" Link asked, still in shock. The blade had moved so easily in her hand, like it was weightless. And she took the life of that Snappy-snappy Plant, too, like it was weightless. She walked over to the pond again and looked back into her reflection. The green blood of the Deku Baba rolled off of her weapon and muddied the pool with ooze. Now she could barely even see her own reflection through the murk.

"I'm a danger," she realized. Navi nodded her head consolingly. "Every minute I'm in the forest I'm contaminating it." Link kneeled down and dipped her sword into the water, letting it wash clean the blade. There was no use denying it anymore. "I am not Kokiri." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Link. I feel bad for her. By the way, I hope you like geopolitics, because there's a side-serving of that coming up in this story, although it's not super central to the plot, which is mostly going to be Link being the most of a disaster one can be


	5. We're all a little lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> :(

The forest glowed with moonlight. Link tiptoed down the ladder with caution as she stowed away from her house, taking every item of justifiable necessity within her satchel.

"Where ya going?" called Navi. The fairy flew up to meet her as she landed to the ground. Deku knows where she's been for the last couple hours. She could've used the help packing.

"I'm leaving the forest," she declared flatly, making her way around the outskirts of the silent, empty, midnight town. She gave a glance back of the skyline of the little village. Maybe Saria was there. Maybe she was still waiting for her on top of one of those buildings. But there was no use going to see her now. "You win," she said to the fairy.

"You're not going to see the Great Deku Tree?" Navi inquired.

"No," Link had decided. "The sooner I leave the better."

Navi considered guiding her back on her proper course. Naturally, Link was supposed to go to the Great Deku Tree and retrieve the **Kokiri Emerald** from within it. But it had taken her this long to get her to commit to leaving at all, and she didn’t want to give her a second chance. "Alright," she said nonchalantly. " **Hyrule Field** it is, then."

Link stepped beyond the border of the village. She would need to cross through the **Lost Woods** to reach the outer fields. As she entered into the forest's midst, she felt herself leaving behind the warmth and comfort of the place she called home. 

"Navi," she asked. "Do fairies have a way to say 'I'm going away and I'm sad about it'?"

"Good-bye?" Navi guessed.

Link frowned. She'd never heard of such a word. As she wove through the towering trees of the Woods, she came upon a wide wooden bridge. It must be ancient, but it was incredibly sturdy. It was a more solid piece of architecture than she had ever seen, so it must not be Kokiran, she supposed. As she walked across it, she breathed melancholy in the flowing moss of the air. It was like a dream she was waking up from. What was beyond this bridge would be completely foreign to her. She paused at the halfway point and looked over the woven railing, watching the moss flow by for the very last time, ready to wake up.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" came a voice. Link felt a shiver down her spine, and turned around to see Saria standing at the Kokiri end of the bridge. Was she always there? Was she so lost in her own dreamlike trance that she walked by her? It seemed like she had been waiting for her.

In fact, she was waiting for her. She had broken her promise.

Link felt her chest seize up with shame. She nodded with heavy sorrow. “Yes.”

"It's alright," said Saria. Tiny pools of water began to form in Link's eyes as Saria walked towards her, meeting her at the halfway point of the bridge. "I knew this day would come," she said.

"Why do you always know these things about me before I do," Link said as she squeezed the tears out of her eyes with forceful blinking.

"Because you are special to me," Saria said. "The most special Kokiri in the world. And I am the luckiest.”

"You are mistaken," Link looked down. "I'm not like you. I'm not... like other Kokiri."

"I know," she said, placing a hand on her chin to softly raise her gaze. "And I like that."

Link stepped back and put her hands on Saria's shoulders, keeping her at a distance.

"The Kokiri don't have a way to say good-bye," Saria whispered at her.

Link didn't know what to do. She didn't know what she should offer as an apology. She didn't want to hurt her any more than she needed to. But right now, she felt something even stronger:

She didn't want to leave this place. 

Saria smiled softly, and pressed down on Link’s arms with her own, causing them to bend gently and fall around her body. She sank into the embrace and pressed herself close to Link's chest.

She raised herself on her tiptoes and placed her forearms over Link's shoulders. "I want to try, though," she said, pressing her lips to Link's.

They were soft and sweet. Link’s lips fell stung with intoxication as they returned her affection. They felt intoxicating the way a fragrant flower intoxicates. She felt possessed by their gentleness, and her stiff body gave way to rest. She felt like a great flower was blossoming in her chest.

Link felt her tears wane with sympathy as the flower grew. Her time in the forest was coming to an end. But now she knew there was a part of her she could never forget. Sarira had placed a seed in her heart, and as they parted lips, she felt her fear of the unknown slip away from her consciousness. Saria's lips would not soon be forgotten, and upon her own were now a forever reminder of childhood and home.

She felt something press into her stomach. "It's mine," Saria said. "And I wanted to play it for you, but that just seems silly now," she smiled coyly. "It's an Ocarina."

Link placed her hands around Saria's and felt a small wooden object pass between them.

"It has holes, which you cover with your fingers, and then blow," she explained. Link examined the object curiously.

"Show me," she said, putting it back into her hands. Saria smiled. She raised the ocarina to her mouth and let a melody of liveliness flow from her breath. It sounded like the forest sounded: full of curiosity and eternal wonder. Link felt like she could get lost in the melody forever. When the song ended, she wanted to hear it for the rest of her life. She wanted to recreate it.

"Will you teach me that one? Link pleaded.

"It's a little advanced," Saria laughed.

"Oh," Link said, swallowing her embarrassment.

Saria shook her head assuringly. "I want you to learn how to play songs from all over Hyrule. Then you can come back to the forest, and play them for me." Link looked into her eyes with courage. "And by then, you should be ready for me to teach you my song," she added cutely.

Link grabbed her hand gently. "Promise?" she asked.

"Promise," Saria agreed.

Link leaned forward and kissed Saria's forehead between her flowy green bangs.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"It means 'Good-bye for now, but I'll see you again someday'," Link decided. Saria glowed at her. The flowing moss of the forest encircled them as Link broke away slowly, holding on to her hand until the last possible moment. Saria waved her away sweetly, as Link changed her walk into a gallop, and then into a run. She didn't look back. There was nothing to look back for, because she would return someday, and the forest would still be there, unchanged as ever.

Saria would still be there, unchanged as ever.


	6. Crossing Field

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link got a sword and shield

"Now you're out the door, Link. And it's about time. I thought you and that Kokiri girl were gonna keep doing that disgusting smoochy thing forever." Navi landed on Link's shoulder and folded her arms and legs. "You're going to need a lot of help completing your quest," she continued. "You're lucky I'm such a knowledgeable guide around Hyrule."

Link nodded. She wasn't used to having someone to talk to every minute of the day. "Are all fairies this talkative?" she asked. The sun was beginning to rise with dawn and she hadn't seen a wink of sleep. The forest was thinning out as Link approached the cusp of the forest and the beginning of what she imagined was Hyrule Field - the great plains that connected the several lands of Hyrule.

"Well, I am the most informative fairy," Navi said. "There's a reason the Great Deku Tree sent _me_ to lead you on your quest. He didn't send _**Tatl**_ ," she laughed. "She's an idiot," she clarified for context.

"So why did He pick me?" Link interrogated.

"Probably because He's a sadist," Navi mumbled to herself.

"Hey, I'm doing my best," Link protested. "I'm not used to this whole adventure thing. I don't even know where to start. And since you're the 'informative' one, maybe you can tell me where to go next!"

A low, stuffy voice came from above. Link looked up to see an owl perched on a high, solitary tree branch. "I know where your journey goes from here," it spoke with performative austerity.

"Oh no," Navi groaned. "The owl. You wanna stay away from this guy, he's a real yapper," she snarked. Link shuddered. If the owl was a degree more talkative than Navi, then she didn't want to know what kind of business she was getting into. 

"My name is **Gaepora** ," the owl spoke. "Young Link, thou hast taken the first step of thy journey. No longer are you a child of the Kokiri. Aye, with your retrieval of the Kokiri Emerald, thy quest of collecting all three **Spiritual Stones** hath begun. Now thy must fetch the **Goron Ruby** and **Zora Sapphire** from within the faroff domains of Hyrule."

"Kokiri Emerald?" Link asked confusedly. "But I haven't got any emeralds." She reached into her satchel and presented a green rupee. "Unless you mean this?"

"Uh........" The Owl just stared with bewilderment.

"Actually," came a voice Link didn't recognize. It was a lovely, harmonious voice, full of fantastical delicacy. She was surprised to realize it was Navi speaking. "Actually your Owlness, we kinda skipped getting the Kokiri Emerald," she explained in her outdoor voice.

"I am quite regretful, what dost thou mean, 'skipped'?"

"Oh, don't worry about it, we'll come back for it," Navi hustled. "But right now, the first thing we gotta do is go meet **Princess Zelda**."

"Princess Zelda?" Link asked. "Who's that?"

"Oh, she's a beautiful, lovely Hylian Princess," Navi recalled, buzzing around and rubbing her hands together. "Blonde. Piercing green eyes. And she's your age, too," she added with a coy wink.

"What's that got to do with it," Link deposed.

"What indeed?" agreed the Owl. "Princess Zelda surely is your next step on your quest, but only after completing your trials at the Great Deku Tree!" he insisted.

"Yeah, whatever, let's just ignore this guy," said Navi. Link walked past the tree hesitantly as the owl hooted in protest.

"What's that he was talking about?" she asked. "Gems - a ruby and a sapphire?"

"Oh, not important right now," Navi assured. "There's this Ruby that belongs to the **Gorons** in **Death Mountain** you'll have to go fetch. And a Sapphire - that's in **Zora's domain**. But literally, ignore that for right now. **Zoras** and Gorons are their own messes." Navi circled Link's head and landed on top of her hat. They were well into Hyrule Field now, and Link could see large settlements in the distance. Hylian settlements, she assumed. "Let's meet that Hylian Princess," Navi pressed.

"Zelda?" she asked. "Come now, Navi. You know me, I'm a collector. Can't I go collect the Stones? The Ruby, the Sapphire..."

Navi sighed. "You can _try_ , I _guess_. But really, you should go see Princess Zelda first. Don't you want to meet the princess of your people? Aren't you the least bit curious to even meet another Hylian?"

Link shook her head. "Nope."

Navi flicked herself into the air in front of her. "Ohhhh. Okay, I see what's happening. You don't want to meet another girl. Because you don't want to forget about _that_ one." Navi gestured behind them with her thumb.

"Maybe," Link said. "Maybe I just like rocks more than Hylians. You never know."

"Come on, Link. There's tons of babes in the world. You gotta step out of your tiny little mindset. The world is huge!"

Link looked around the vast Hyrule Field. In front of her were two cities. One was a large city of stone, connected to the fields by a drawbridge. The other was a quaint little town nestled in the hills to the side.

"I take it that's where the Princess is," Link said, pointing at the stone settlement.

"Yep," Navi confirmed. "That's **Castle Town**."

"Cool," Link said. She faced the village that wasn't Castle Town and began striding in its direction.

"Link!" Navi protested. "Are you really gonna avoid meeting her? How do I make you understand this: she's the prettiest Hylian in the whole world. Not to mention it's your destiny to meet her! People would LITERALLY kill to have that destiny. You know, I'm starting to think you're actually stupid."

Link raised a pruned eyebrow. "If it took you this long to figure that out, then which of us is really the dumb one, hmm?"

Navi opened her mouth in protest, but then it just turned into a scowl, which she relented into a sigh before she began to speak again. "Okay, here's a test," she said, flying in front of Link's face, showing off her voluptuous body. "What do you think when you see me?"

"Hmm," Link emoted thoughtfully as she continued to march past her. "Tiny imp with a big mouth," she decided.

"EXCUSE ME?" Navi shouted while waving her small arms in the air from behind Link's head. "Well, that's just my luck," she pouted. "Doomed to travel the world with my beauty and intellect completely wasted on the most clueless, tasteless individual in all of Hyrule."

"Can no one else see your true form?" Link inquired.

"Only the **Great Fairies** ," Navi explained. "There's five of them, all throughout the land. You know, there's one in Death Mountain, actually." She pointed past the village they were headed to, where a large mountain loomed in the distance.

"That's where that Ruby was supposed to be," Link recalled.

"True, true," Navi nodded thoughtfully. "Hmm. Well, it's decided then. Since you're clearly too braindead to get laid, you can go ahead and take us to **Kakariko village**. Then we'll go to Death Mountain, where I can go schmooze it up with the Great Fairy, and you can go fetch your rock!"

"Sounds like a plan," Link smiled. She was beginning to get a feel for how to press the right buttons to make this fairy agree with her. She was a difficult companion, no doubt, but she was manageable.


	7. the most important item

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> link gets the most important item in kakariko village

"Kakariko village, hmm?"

Link looked around the small village, with her head angled up to observe the relatively tall buildings. _Dwellings_ , she realized with awe. There were many trees in the village, but none of the buildings were placed within them. They were completely apart from the forestry, which was a foreign concept for her.

"They live on the ground," she observed. "That's weird, isn't it?"

"You're going to think a lot of things are weird in this place," said Navi.

"Is that a Hylian?" Link asked, looking over at a pale, bald man who was leaning against a tree.

"Yeah," said Navi.

"And what's that?" She pointed to a tall, dark-skinned muscular man who was jogging around the town.

"Also Hylian," said Navi. "They're all Hylian. Kakariko is a village of Hylia."

"They're all so different," Link pondered as she looked upon all the villagers.

"Hylians are not a monolith. Of all the Peoples of Hyrule, they're the least definable. The most complicated. They come in many forms. Some are good, and some are... some are trouble."

Just then, Link heard a woman yelp. "Oh no, my **Cuccos**!"

Link hurried over to the source of the scream. She found a tall woman with red hair down to her waist standing over an empty Cucco pen. Link looked up at her. "What's happened?" she asked.

"My Cuccos have gotten out of their pen, I... I must've left the gate ajar," she sniffled. "I would go collect them myself, but I'm allergic..."

"Why are you keeping Cuccos if you're allergic to them?" Navi interrogated sourly. Link ignored her. She was really taken by how tall this woman was.

She raised her arm in a salute. "Don't worry, miss; collecting is my specialty," she said. Without a moment of pause, she was off, scouring the town for white little chickens. She found them crevices between buildings and atop rooftops and in trees. Some were even in crates, somehow. She had to climb the highest hill in the village to find the last one on the opposite side of the windmill. But at last, she returned with it in hand, tossing it into the lady's pen with finality.

"Wow. I'm very impressed," the lady declared. Navi rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, so impressive. Really can't imagine anything cooler than rounding up chickens," she sassed sarcastically. “Link, you can’t go doing whatever tasks you want. We have serious business to attend to.” She was referring, of course, to meeting the Death Mountain Great Fairy.

"How can I reward you?" the Cucco woman asked.

"Oh, there's no reward necessary," Link replied. "Collecting things is my hobby. I would collect them all again if you let them out."

"Hmm," the lady hummed amusedly. "Well, alright then. But since you just ran all over town for me, it seems like I should repay you with some nourishment," she said. She extended an arm, offering a glass jar filled with a white, splashy substance. Link puzzled at it. "Lon Lon Milk," she explained.

"Ohh," Link said, nodding her head. Now that she realized the substance could be drunk, she understood the purpose of it. She popped open the jar and raised it to her mouth, guzzling down the whole milk in one long cascade of gulps. She finished with a victorious exhale.

"A **bottle**!" she declared with excitement, raising the empty jar over her head triumphantly. "This is perfect, I can put bugs in it!" She put the jar away in her satchel, much to the lady's bewilderment.

"Where are you from?" she asked. Link prepared to answer, but before she knew what was happening, she began collapsing to the earth.

"Link, you're fainting!" Navi explained. Well, that would make sense, Link realized, as her head fell hard onto the rockbed. She had been traveling for a full day without rest.


	8. link gets domesticated in this one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the cucco lady adopts link

When Link came to, she was inside a warm dwelling, wrapped in a heavy blanket and lying face down on a bed with her face deep into a pillow. 

"S'it morning?" she mumbled while rolling over and sitting halfway up. Drool dripped from her mouth and onto her chest. When she realized she wasn't wearing anything there, she frightened and stumbled off the bed and onto the floor with a thud.

"If you're awake, there's clothes on the bed by your feet," came a womanly voice from a distant room. Link looked around and saw she was in a mostly empty bedroom. She crawled her way to the lower end of the bed and found some unusual rags on it. They were like no clothes she had ever seen before, but she had no choice. She tossed them on her shoulders and waist and looked around for a mirror. When she couldn't find one, she looked for her satchel. Her satchel had a mirror.

" _Navi_ ," she whispered. " _Where's my satchel?_ "

But Navi wasn't around. Whoever had taken her and undressed her had probably done something horrible to her fairy. Hesitantly she opened the door and stepped into a hallway. It extended far into another room, and part-way through there was a door, by which her sword and shield were lying on a wooden bench. She tiptoed over down the hall. If they were there, perhaps her satchel was nearby. As she shuffled down the hallway, she heard overlapping laughter coming from the far room.

"And then I said, it could've been worse. You could've ended up with Tatl," Navi's sing-song, eloquent outdoor voice recounted with humorous canter.

"Oh, Navi, you have the funniest stories," the woman's voice spoke with bumps of laughter.

"Navi?" Link asked, stepping into the room. Navi was relaxing cross-legged on a table, while the lady who had the Cuccos was at a stovetop stirring something in a pot.

"Hey lazybutt, how's your nap?" Navi said in her indoor, snotty voice.

Link rubbed her eyes. She felt like she had been asleep for days.

The Cucco lady turned around and offered her a bowl. "Oatmeal," she said. "Although I'm sure you've not had it before, Link of the Kokiri." Link blinded as she received it from her. "Your fairy told me all about you. You have some interesting stories."

Link sat down at the table next to Navi. "Where's my tunic?" she asked her.

"Oh, not to worry, I washed it for you. Oh, but I didn't undress you," the woman waved her hand embarrassedly. "The fairy was the one who did that. She also helped me carry you in."

Navi smirked victoriously. "Why?" Link asked her. "What's wrong with my tunic?"

"Well, you were drawing some attention to yourself, you see," Navi explained. "And it seemed like she could help you be, you know, more Hylian."

The lady sat down across from her with her own bowl of hot, melty cereal. "Least I could do to thank you for your help today," she said. "And anyway, this town is gonna chew you up dressed like that," the woman said. "I half thought you were a wild man when you came by. That tunic was so mossy," she explained. "Eat some," she pointed to her bowl. "I really hope you will."

Link put a spoonful into her mouth and tried to swallow it, but it tasted like iron to her. It was no deku seed cereal. With great effort she forced it down her throat.

"Navi tells me you were adopted into the Kokiri at a young age," the woman explained. "But you are Hylian, correct?"

"I'm both," Link said, remembering the ocarina that she kept in her satchel. "My satchel - where is it?"

The lady pointed at the windowsill, where the satchel was hanging from a wooden pin. Link stood up and grabbed it, hurriedly looking for her effects. She stood in the sunlight permitted by the window and examined herself piece by piece in her mirror.

Her hair was wildly unkept, and it fell chaotically over her shoulders. _Tsk_ , she thought. _That's embarrassing._ Around her chest was a white crop top with a graphic that wrote "The Hyrulez" in sharp font. It left her midriff exposed, but at least her arms were covered in a long, silky brown cardigan which hung around her shoulders and draped down to her thighs. Her hips were loosely surrounded by high-waisted jeans, which were a sky blue, colored with strokes of horizontal and vertical dark blue lines.

"You should uh, buckle up," the woman spoke, pointing to her stomach, where the cloth of her pants spread apart in two flaps, one with a gold button, and the other with a whole to thread it through. With great difficulty, Link managed to buckle them together, but the jeans were still high and loose around her abdomen.

"M'sorry, I outgrew them years ago, but it seems like it's still too big on you," the lady apologized. "Here's a belt," she offered, presenting a long piece of leather to her. Link tied it around her waist, much to the lady's dismay.

"Oh dear," she said, walking up behind her and untying her messily adorned belt. "You have to thread it through the loops," she explained, leading the leather around the laces on her waist gently. "You're lucky to have run into me," she spoke. "I used to be a designer," she explained. "Before I came to Kakariko, anyway."

"Oh," Link blushed. She leaned over the windowsill, looking curiously into the town. She could see men and women placing planks of wood on top of each other, and filling in gaps with red rectangular blocks of evenly cut stone. "It's an odd way to build a home," she remarked. "Why are they making more?"

"Well, Kakariko is a village of disparates," the woman explained. "It's always growing. I came here myself only a year ago, in hopes of raising Cuccos."

"Which you're allergic to?"

"Well, it's a living I have to get used to. I used to live in Castle Town," she pushed Link around and made her face her. "We've got to get this hair under control," she decided. She pulled a long piece of gold out of her pocket and inserted it over the crown of Link's golden hair, lifting it up and letting it separate from her bangs.

"Can you braid it?" Navi asked in her outdoor voice, flying over and tossing Link's hair around excitedly.

" _Navi_ ," Link hissed shyly.

"Mhm," the lady agreed, turning Link around again to face the window. She began to weave Link's wild, tangly hair into a heavy knot as Link looked out the window to watch Hylian men carry stints of felled trees to a house in assembly.

"Seems like you're a productive sort," she summed neutrally. "Hylians, I mean. You're good at making things."

"Mostly war," the woman replied absently.

"What do you mean, war? You all seem a peaceful bunch," she puzzled.

Navi shook her head. "She's not the brightest," she apologized to the lady. The lady didn't seem to mind, and she continued her braidwork.

"Most of us came to Kakariko because we were tired of paying for the King's endless wars," she continued. "Against the Gerudo, mostly. But also in the mountains, picking fights with the Gorons on their natural homeland. I left to find peace of mind from it all." She sighed. "Kakariko itself is founded on the graves of the Sheikah."

"The Sheikah?"

"They were servants to the Royal Family, hundreds of years ago. But the kings lost their trust in them, and turned their homeland into ruin," she recounted. "According to legend, that is."

Link felt numb with confusion. It was beyond her imagination how someone could do something so horrible. "Are there any left?" she asked. The woman shook her head.

"Mm-m," she hummed, tying the last of Link's hair into a final braid. "No one's seen one in hundreds of years." Link picked up her mirror, and looked at her softly kept hair as it dangled to her shoulder. She let herself accept it. It wasn't what she was used to, but if it would help her pass as Hylian, it couldn't hurt. She let her eyes drift past her own reflection, and fall upon the Hylians who were hoisting wood neatly into even piles atop one another. She was one of them, now. She was a Hylian girl.

"I'm going to see the Princess later on," Link told the woman as she rolled off the windowsill and into the kitchen. "And when I do, I'll explain your troubles. No one should have to raise Cuccos they're allergic to," she declared.

The woman smiled. "M'name's Anju," she said. "And I'll always have a bed here for you."

Link raised her arms in graceful thankings. As she picked up her satchel, she noticed an attachment to it. It was a long, woven, leather pocket. 

"I almost forgot," Anju said. "I made a sheath for your sword."

"Oh," said Link, examining it. She lifted her sword from the bench and slipped it into the sheathe, which strew around her denim-wrapped waist. "Thanks. You should really keep being designer," she remarked, admiring its intricacy.

"And I refilled your bottle with more Lon Lon's," Anju added. Link was confused why she would do such a thing to a perfectly good bug-carrying device.

"Alright," is all she said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> told you there'd be geopolitics


	9. The Legend of Zelda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> well it's not the legend of Link

Link walked along a village trail that led to towards the mountain with purpose. As a Hylian, she felt it was her duty to fix the wrongs of history. Perhaps she could collect the Ruby from this mountain, and use it to impress the Princess. Girls love rubies, she decided. And once she's won the Princess' favor, she could do something about this crisis of Hyrule that led so many to flee its capital.

"Why do they call it Death Mountain, anyway?" Link asked her fairy, who shrugged. "Really can't help their tourism industry. What would one put on a postcard? 'Death Mountain - the best place to die in the summertime!'"

“It doesn’t matter, Link,” Navi decided. “Death Mountain is on the **Way of the Hero**.”

“The Way of the Hero?”

“It means it’s next on your to-do list, put simply,” Navi explained. "Link, look," Navi said, pointing at the end of the trail. The path to the Mountain was gated off, and a guard stood by it, armed with a lengthy pike.

"Hey, can you open the gate?" Link asked the guard. The guard shook his helmeted head.

"No civilians are allowed beyond here," he warned. "Treacherous Gorons sprawl in these mountains."

"I'm not a civilian," said Link, brandishing her sword exemplarily. "See?"

The guard groaned. "By not a civilian, I mean part of the King's Guard, not a spunky little girl who got her hands on a sword."

Link frowned offendedly. "Who says?"

"The order comes directly from the palace."

Link turned around and paced away a few steps. She was concocting a scheme. She remembered that the princess was blonde and also her age, and also Hylian and therefore must look similar to her. Which meant _she_ looked similar to her.

"Oh, I see." Navi folded her arms amusedly and nodded, as Link turned about to face the guard again.

"Good job, pal, you are doing an _excellent_ job at guarding this pathway. I was merely testing you, to see if you were as much an upstanding soldier as we hoped."

The guard stared in confusion.

"But it's quite alright," Link continued, "I have royal duties to perform in these mountains, so you must let me pass."

The guard stared in continued confusion.

"What, don't you recognize me? Oh well, don't feel bad, just let me through. It's not every day you get to meet Princess Zelda!"

The guard burst out laughing. "Oh my Farore’s-! That is a good one!"

Link folded her arms affrontedly and scoffed. "What, don't laugh! I could have your head!"

"Yes, truly!" He leaned on his pike in hysteria. "Princess Zelda, well known fan of... _The Hyrulez_ ," he read off her shirt, intensifying his laugh. Our Princess, an edgelord!" He bent over in hysteria.

Link turned her back with a pout on her face. "Whatever," she growled to herself. " _Spunky girl,_ she echoed. "I'll show _you_ what's spunky!" she yelled with rage as she turned around and drew her sword, charging at the guard. He was slow to bring his weapon to defend, and she would've reached him, too, if Navi didn't pull her by the shirt and drag her away.

"Hey idiot, how about we don't piss off the Royal Family by murdering one of their men," she hissed.

Link sighed with relent, picking herself up off the ground and walking away. " _Little girl,_ " she muttered with disbelief.

"Well, you're not in the forest anymore," said Navi, landing on her shoulder as she limped away. "You're not big, you're small. You're not unique, you're uncultured. Welcome to being Hylian!"

They came upon a stone well in the center of town. Link sat on the stone and peered over it and watched her reflection. It was going to be a while before she would get used to seeing herself in baggy jeans and crop top. "Navi, how am I supposed to be Hylian?" She frowned. "It's so confusing to me."

Navi stood on the water and looked up at her, dipping her toes into the surface, and rippling away her image. "You're overthinking it," she said. "Just, act like you don't care. If you act like what you appear as, who is anyone else to question what you are?"

"Hmm," Link hummed. She found herself lost in the waves on the water surface, and soon she began to hear some faint, muffled whisper coming from beneath it. "Something's down there," she spoke. She felt her hand reach out to the top of the well, touching the frigid water with her middle finger.

Navi flipped off the surface and landed on the other side of the stone enclosing the water, peering down into it. "Link, it's a dark magic down there," she spoke. "An evil is growing in the depths of this well-water."

"I should go down there and investigate then," she decided. "Fighting evil is my destiny, no?"

"Mm," Navi nodded. "Yes, you should," she agreed. "But not at the moment. Realistically, you shouldn't be going into any... _dark_ places, yet. You barely know how to use your sword. And besides, we already know what's next on your to-do list. We need to go see Princess Zelda, and receive permission to climb the mountain. That's the Way of the Hero. See? What did I tell you. You and Zelda are fated to meet. And once we meet Zelda, we go reclaim the Goron Ruby, and then finally- hey. Hey. Link? LINK?"

Link was already at the bottom of the well. She swam around its stone base, looking around for a letway - a path from which the water came. Whispered encircled her. They were still indistinct, but they rippled thickly through the water. She turned to face the direction the whispers seemed to come from, and kicked her legs fiercely against the stone wall, propelling herself into a small passageway. Once she climbed through it there was little light that reached, but she knew there was a place to surface. She lifted herself up into a standing position and pressed through a wooden door. She climbed through the opening and breathed for air.

A glowing light followed Link to the surface, signaling Navi's pursuit. "What the actual- _Link_ ," she whispered. " _This is not the Way of the Hero._ "

Link crawled out of the dark water and hoisted herself onto the stone floor. She reached into her satchel and drew a Deku Stick. "I make my own way," she said, striking a stone and igniting the stick. It glowed with fire, revealing a deep crossroads of corridors. Dark whispers came from each end, cascading and overlapping in a cacophony of duress. Link was in the shadows.


	10. Bottom of the Well

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> their first dungeon together brought them together

"What are you trying to tell me," Link's voice echoed in the catacombs.

" _Tell me, tell me,_ " whispers echoed back.

Navi cowered under Link's right ear and pulled on her lobe. "Please, Link, I don't like it here," she whimpered. It was the first time she recognized anything other than sass in her indoor voice. She liked the change of tone.

"Navi, Navi," she consoled, while walking along a pathway. "How can such a loud creature be afraid of whispers," she said with a smile. Navi just began to cry, and suddenly Link felt very guilty. "Oh, the dark," she realized, remembering her first encounter with the fairy. Navi's tears accelerated into sobs. "It's alright, it's alright," she hushed. "Look, the light shows the truth. There's nothing to be afraid of," she said, brandishing her lit Deku Stick and revealing a pile of skeletons on the floor. "Except maybe whatever got them," she added unhelpfully.

The passage was bisected by a lower segment through which water ran. Link sidestepped between each side as she avoided the skeletons.

"If it makes you feel better, I'm not afraid," Link said cheerily to her fairy.

"That's... that's because you're too stupid to be," Navi whimpered. The fact that she could talk back in this state made Link smile. She never thought she'd be happy to hear Navi's snark. She reached out a hand to lean on the wall of the corridor.

"It has its upsides- whoa!" The wall she leaned against was no solid wall. Like a phantom she phased through it and fell to the ground on the other side. The ground was earthy and soft.

 _"Show the truth,"_ echoed the whispers, as if they had remembered the words spoken earlier. Link rolled onto her stomach and grabbed her deku stick, pushing herself out of the dirt. She had fallen through the wall cleanly. She was in a room with no doors - only stone walls. She reached out to touch the wall she had fallen through. It was now corporeal. She was completely trapped.

Link stepped backwards and felt her foot kick against something heavy. When she looked down, there was a chest at her feet. She could've sworn she didn't see one when she first entered the enclosure. Curiously, she bent down to open it and reveal its contents.

Strange, blue, rodent-like machines were stacked orderly in the chest. She picked one up to examine it. It was kind of cute, she decided. /But what purpose did they serve,/ she wondered. She placed one of the ground and squeezed it. To her surprise, its eyes lit up red, and it began to wiggle its tail and crawl through the dirt.

"Wow!" she exclaimed, with a surprised laugh. She was even more amazed when the rodent machine crawled vertically up the wall, and then on the ceiling upside-down. It was an adorable little fellow, she thought, and decided to empty the chest's contents into her satchel. The rodent machine continued to crawl around and circled back to the earth. Link stepped aside to avoid stepping on it gently. As she stared in complete wonder, the little rodent stopped, and then exploded with fire. Her eyes widened as it sent her flying backwards.

The earth she landed on was crumbling from the explosion. She soon felt herself falling through the layer of dirt and down to the next level. She landed on a hard bed of stone with a thud. When she recovered, she coughed away the dirt and reached around in the dark. Her Deku Stick had gone dark in the suffocating dust and now she had no vision.

"Navi!” she called. "I need you. You're a source of light."

"I'm not coming out," Navi whimpered. Link sat up and realized that felt something trembling in her shirt. It was Navi, of course, nestled in the crevice of her chest.

"What are you doing in there?" Link hissed.

Navi whimpered. "Dungeon dark and cold. Titty soft and warm." 

Link rolled her eyes, and was about to scold her when she realized that the light of the fairy's body glowed through the thin fabric of her white shirt and illuminated the ground in front of her. "Stay in there, actually," she said. "Have a nice nap." She stood up and looked around. The glow from her shirt showed her surroundings to be littered with various decomposed bones. Not whole skeletons, she realized. These were ancient remnants.

She had fallen in a mostly empty area. Some ropes hung from the floor above, and there were two wooden planks standing up-right in a X formation in the center. A wall. She needed a wall to follow, or she could get easily lost.

She walked along a stone path on the ground, treading carefully around broken bits of bones. "Forget about it," called the whispers, for the first time speaking distinct words Link had not used herself. "We are what they are, not what we seem." Link turned suddenly. She could've sworn the voice was coming from just behind her left ear, but when she looked, there was nothing there.

The walls were lined with panels that stretched on for infinity. Each of them was adorned with a single whole skull in the center. The backlit canopy of her graphic tee imposed the word 'Hyrulez' across each of them. As she walked along the row, she looked for some pattern, some distinguishing feature. She felt that there was something calling to her on the other side of it, but there was no door.

Finally, she saw it. A skull with glowing green eyes sat upon a panel equal to all others. But when she faced the panel, no shadow of 'The Hyrulez' cast upon it. "Light passes through," she realized aloud, reaching out a hand to touch the wall - and as she suspected, there was no wall. She fingers phased right through it.

She ducked through the panel curiously. "Where are you?" she called to the darkness. There was a long tunnel ahead of her, and the whispers had gone silent. She entered intrepidly. The earth was soft and mulchy, as if it had been freshly turned over. When she reached the end of the tunnel, there was nothing but a dead end, except for a square slab of stone placed auspiciously before it.

Link puzzled on it. She remembered the chest that held the little blue rodent machines, and how it seemed like it appeared out of nowhere. But that would be impossible. It was always there. Just, invisible. She bent down before the stone slab and put her hands on top of it. Sure enough, her fingers met a large, wooden chest, which appeared out of thin air.

"So that's where you were," she said. She opened it up and reached into it earnestly. Much to her dismay, all that was inside was a small, purple piece of glass with a lens.

"A lens," she scoffed. "You called me all the way down here for a lens?" she interrogated it. "Well that's useless to me, I'm 20/20."

Her eyes caught a line of text that lined the exterior of the craft. "Hmm," she said, not recognizing it as something she could read. "Navi, wake up," she called. "I can't read Hylian."

Navi climbed to the collar of her shirt and peeked her head out from within it. "It's not Hylian," she whispered. "That's Sheikah. It says _'This is the **Lens of Truth**. See what has been hidden with our ancient magic.'_"

"Lens of Truth, hmm?" Link twirled it about in her fingers. "So what does it want to show me?" She raised it to her eye, but she saw nothing unordinary through it. She turned around and saw a line of dirt rippling through the floor, as if something was moving through it. She returned the lens to her eye to see a long, white, slimy hand reaching out of the dirt and grasping towards her. Link's veins went cold with ice. "I... see," she gasped.

"What? What is it?" Navi's voice quivered. Link had no time to explain - the monster was closing in on the corner. She ran at it and performed a roll, dodging beneath its clutches. Her legs were turning to jello and she could barely stay upright as she ran through the uneasy dirt tunnel. She ducked through the panel she entered through and tripped immediately over something wet. The lens flew from her hand and landed on a pile of dirt, which she pulled herself towards along the ground. As she grasped it, she felt a wet hand grab her legs. 

The invisible hand dragged her along the muddy dirt and dangled her in the air as she struggled to right herself. She pulled her sword from its sheath, but immediately let it fall through her clumsy hands. The disembodied arm carried her and careened across the dungeon, dangling her body with violent rotation. She used the lens to see what she was being carried to. A white, hunchbacked figure was climbing out of the ground. Its neck protruded from its body like a snake, and its face was covered with a horrible, yellow mouth.

"Navi," Link called. "You want to get my sword for me?" she suggested. "Else I'm gonna be eaten." Navi wouldn't move though. She couldn't move. As Link hung vulnerably above the creature's mouth, she cringed in disgust, pocketing the lens. Better not to see the thing she would be eaten by, she supposed. But as she put it away, she remembered the explosive mice she stashed in her satchel. She didn't know if explosions would hurt the monster, but she might as well try.

She opened the bag and let the explosives drop onto the monster's head. Upon impact, they burst into flames, causing the monster to unleash a horrible shriek. The hand the was holding her leg swung around wildly and let her go, sending her body flying through the dungeon. She held onto the lens this time, though, and immediately began looking for her sword.

As she looked around the dungeon, it was far less empty than it had been before. Miserable creatures moaned in each corner of the room. The X-shaped wooden planks were rusted with blood. And worst of all, there was not only one slimy, silver arm reaching at her, but six.

She dashed towards the area she was first lifted by the monster and saw it laying there guarded by two of the evil hands. She had no choice but to go for it. She lunged between them and firmly grasped the Kokiri Sword. She turned her lunge into a roll and faced the hands which closed in on her. With two quick swings, she batted them away, slashing fingers clean off of them. Once they fell away, she ran over the mouthy figure and raised her sword above her head. With one clean slice, she removed its head, and the rest of the body oozed lifelessly back into the ground.


	11. Zora's River

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> link wants to do srm in this one

On the outskirts of Kakariko Village was a river that ran clean from Zora's Fountain. Link washed her Hylian clothes on its banks in the woods while swimming in the river, cleansing her hair of the mud and dirt that smuggled within it from the bottom of the well. Once her hair was dry, she swam to the shore and let Navi rebraid it neatly.

"On your to-do list," Navi spoke, "clearing the Bottom of the Well was like, item 500." She flew around Link's nape, tossing lines of hair to and fro. "That was a **Dead Hand** you fought. Not your average monster, mind you. Pure evil - a spawn of curses and memories. It could've killed you. You're lucky to be alive."

Link reached over to her satchel and pulled out her jar of Lon Lon Milk. She lifted the lid and drank it gently, feeling its succulent nutrients cure her bruises. It was growing on her, and she was beginning to understand why it would be good to have milk in a bottle.

"No thanks to you, miss 'afraid of the dark'," Link accused, standing up and walking over to her clothes. "Why are you so afraid?" she asked her, beginning to dress herself.

Navi winced. "I'm not afraid. It's just that you're so stupidly unafraid," she corrected.

"Hmm," said Link, struggling to buckle her pants the way the Cucco Lady told her. She eyed the river up and down, wondering which way she should go next. "Upstream is the Zora's place, right?"

"Yes, and downstream is Castle Town, which is where we should go next," explained Navi. "You'll need to get the Princess' permission to climb Death Mountain apparently."

"Ugh," said Link, her head still heavy with confused resistance to the idea of going to meet her. "Can't I go up the river and catch some butterflies instead?"

Navi raised her tiny hands into the air with frustrated abandon. "BUTTERFLIES?" she exclaimed with disbelief.

"Yeah, my bottle's empty," said Link, "so I might as well put some bugs in it." She began walking upstream idly.

"Why must you always go against the current," Navi snapped. "Literally! Right now! You don't need butterflies from Zora's River, you need to get Princess Zelda's permission to go to Death Mountain, which is the complete opposite direction."

Link walked on anyway, trotting along the riverbank pleasant with how soft and clean she felt from bathing in the river. As she climbed the hillside, however, she came upon a large tree and at the top of the tree was the owl from before.

"Young Link, with thy triumph at Death Mountain you hath collected thy first two Spiritual Stones," the owl, Gaepora, began.

"Oh no! It's the owl!" yelled Link, running back the other way. She couldn't face the owl. It would be way to embarrassing to have to explain that she had not even made it up Death Mountain.

"Run for it, Link!" Navi encouraged, dancing along the riverside and leading her back downstream. There was nowhere else for Link to go; she had to face Zelda.


	12. Castle Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link finally goes to Castle Town. Seriously, what is the routing in this?

Link ran for minutes through the woods, until she was back in Hyrule Fields, standing in front of a drawbridge. It was some time before she nervously sidestepped over the drawbridge, walking shyly past the guards who stood at its ends as though worried they would tease her for being less pretty than Princess Zelda, the way she interpreted the Death Mountain guard to have scolded her.

It was this invented shame she carried as she entered Castle Town, which to her surprise was a much more lively and musical than she had anticipated. It was not a city of stone - it was a town of perpetual festivities where the air was rife with chatter and music where the building blocks around it were stone. It was much like a lake of joy held in by dams. The empty and quiet lands of Hyrule Field echoed no familiarity with the livelihood within the unpenetrated stone walls.

Link walked around the outskirts of the main plaza, watching and hearing Hylian couples dance and sing around a fountain, traders haggle and roar with laughter loudly with their customers from behind stalls, and the beneath this layer, the sound of children running around, giggling and playing with small dogs which ran freely in the open space. It was unfamiliarly familiar, and Link felt uncomfortably belonging in this alien atmosphere between the stone.

It was so peaceful. So quaint.

Then she remembered the bottom of the well - the horror there was so far from any setting like this. Was that not too a Hylian creation? She shuddered.

"That's where Zelda is," Navi explained, pointing to a distant castle on the other side of town.

Link nodded. There was no use in prolonging her time in this city. She likened herself to Hyrule Field - betwixt and between Castle Town and Kokiri Village, neither here as a Kokiri nor there as a Hylian. As she walked towards the castle, she noticed a large gothic cathedral in a corner of the city. She was drawn to its solitude and seclusion.

"Religious folk?" asked Link, somehow intuiting that there was a spiritual purpose to the building, although she had never seen it before except - oh, maybe she did see it once. In a dream.

"As if!" answered Navi. "Don't you know anything? The Hylians are the most secular people of this land. That Temple is ancient, and extremely antiquated. No one prays there anymore."

"Hmm," said Link, finding a pathway alongside it which led to the castle. A large courtyard of open greenery and artistically carved hedges lay before her. "Oh great," she said, noticing dozens of guards along the paths, patrolling for anyone trying to sneak into the castle. "I hate guards."

"You can sneak by them!" decided Navi excitedly.

"Sneak?"

"Yes! You're small now, remember? That has its upsides," Navi continued. "These guards are looking for dangerous men or beasts. But you're so small, you can probably slip right under their noses!"

Link frowned as she came upon a gate. "I'm not that small," she pouted. But she had no choice. As uncomfortable as she was about Castle Town, and deeply upset by the possibility of being found by any guards who might find out she was trying to secretly visit the princess - ugh! that would be so embarrassing! - she had to do it. She had to do it, to visit the Hylian Princess, even though she was decidedly uncomfortable with Hylians. 

"Just, look what they did to this park," Link sighed, looking over the manicured pathways empty of trees. It was rife with evidence of constant reduction, and that made her upset. Hylians and their lack of appreciation for nature made her sickeningly unwilling to complete the task she had set out on.

But as she walked around the outside of the courtyard searching for a path through the shrubbery that she might be able to sneak through, the most beautiful music she had ever known came to her ears. She found herself drawn to this music, and she followed it instinctively through the shrubbery until she came upon a small red-haired girl singing in a green meadow-bed.


	13. Malon

The girl stopped singing and waved cutely at Link when she spotted her.

"M'name's **Malon**."

Link blinked confusedly as she looked upon her. She was a similar build to her. She was wearing a long purple skirt which fell to her ankles where she sat with her knees to the side and her arms down by her feet, her hands pressing into the shallow grass. Her top was a blouse of white cotton rags with a gold handkerchief wrapped around her collar, embroidered with small wooden beads. Then Link noticed her eyes - a shockingly fierce blue. She wasn't prepared for them when they met hers. She thought they would be as mute and demure as the rest of her outfit. But they were intense. They were aggressive.

"You've got a fairy!" the girl named Malon exclaimed, thrusting herself up onto her feet and into Link's face to steal a close look at Navi, who was perched on her shoulder. "Hylians don't get fairies often," she said with wonder. "Are you a magician? No, a witch?"

Link blushed unwillingly as the red-haired girl circled around her with an unapologetic stare. All she could do was return her stare for a moment, while Navi giggled in her head delightedly.

"No wait - you must be a burglar!" declared Malon, clasping her hands together in joy.

"No, no!" said Link, waving her hands defensively and backing up. "I'm an honest girl, I swear!"

"Well, you've not told me your name, Honest Girl."

"My name? Um, I'm Zelda," echoed Link chaotically. Her brain was so stumped by the intensity of the bubbly girl on top of her that all she could do was repeat the last lie she had said.

"Princess Zelda!" said the girl with a gasp. "Oh, well that explains it," she considered aloud, "because if anyone would have a fairy around these parts it would be you, wouldn't it, Princess?"

Link nodded unsurely while Navi snorted with laughter. She was stunned that the girl actually believed her when she said she was Zelda. "Yes, I'm Princess Zelda," Link repeated, "also, this is my fairy, Navi," she continued. Navi was going into an hysterical giggle-fit in her head, much to her annoyance.

"Oh, where's my manners!" she announced, kneeling at her feet. "M'lady, Malon - at your service," she provided, head bent over her body with dainty grace. "My father owns a ranch in Hyrule Field - Lon Lon Ranch," she explained.

"Lon Lon..." Link repeated. The name sounded familiar to her. "Yes! Lon Lon, of course," she exclaimed. "I love your milk." Her eyes fell to the red-head girl's chest as she realized how it sounded coming out of her mouth. "I mean - your father's milk, I suppose." Navi roared with laughter as she dug herself a deeper hole. "The milk you and your father make, not that - I mean your cows make it, but it _is_ yours--"

Malon bent over with a giggle. "I've always heard the Princess was as beautiful as you are," she said. "But no one mentioned how cute."

Link's chest seized up with panic as she received the bluntness of the comment. She wasn't ready to be called cute, or beautiful. It was a sharp excitement that infected her body and made her a little dizzy, and when she finally caught herself looking again at the girl who complimented her she noticed her large brown freckles upon her rosy, tan cheeks, and decided that she, too, was cute and pretty.

" _Someone's in love_ ," teased a voice in her head. It was Navi's.

" _I am not_ ," Link retorted with internal indignance. " _I don't even like her that way! We've barely just met._ "

Navi chirped sillily, releasing annoying laughter into Link's head as she shook it, realizing that she was smiling like an idiot staring at the girl she definitely didn't like or anything.

"Why did you think I was a burglar, then?" she asked her innocently, trying to save herself from further embarrassment.

"Well," answered Malon, "It looked like you were trying to find a way into the castle. And I didn't mean any disrespect by it! Just between you and me - _I was trying to sneak in too._ ," she whispered.

"Oh!" solved Link. "Maybe we can sneak in together?" she offered.

Malon smirked. "And why is the princess trying to sneak into her own castle?" she pressed slyly.

"Uh... you know... maybe I got locked out?" Link provided unsurely. 

Malon seemed to buy it. "Hmm. Alright. Then I'll take it as my duty to get you back to your chambers," she said coyly, "without alerting the guards, of course."

Link knew this was a risky option, but at the moment, she had no other choice if she wanted to meet Zelda. She was completely subject to the whims of this girl she had only met, because despite her renunciations, she was already in the deep sea of the girl's wonderful, piercing eyes.


	14. At Least Out Loud

"Why were you singing, though?" whispered Link, as they shuffled behind shrubbery, avoiding the gazes of the distant guards as they made their way through the courtyard.

"I sing when I'm lonely or scared," explained Malon in a hush. "And when I'm happy, sometimes, too."

"Were you lonely, then?"

Malon nodded affirmatively. "I was trying to sneak into the castle too, you see. My father might've gotten lost or fallen asleep or something. He went to the castle to deliver some goods, but he hasn't come back. So I thought I'd go see if he was alright!"

"Oh, I see."

Malon led them through an opening in the shrubbery, and they both ran tucked over behind a hedge to a small gathering of bushes and a small stone statue of a man wielding a sword atop a horse, behind which they found some temporary refuge from the patrolling guards.

"One of your ancestors, right?" Malon guessed, pointing to the statue.

"I suppose," answered Link thoughtfully.

"He must've been a great ruler. And you one day will be, too, I imagine."

Link rested the back of her head against the stone thoughtfully. "Not as great as you think," she said, voice bitter with angst as she looked around the heavil pruned courtyard. There was no grass, hardly any untamed bushes, and absolutely no sign of nature. "I fear the royal family hasn't been the noblest for my people or others," she continued, thinking of Anju and the bottom of the well.

"You're going to change that though, right?" asked Malon with decided certainty. Link was unsure if she could. But she would try. She would try to persuade the princess to do something about the situation in Kakariko Village.

"Yes," she said finally, although her voice was less certain, and she was suddenly very nostalgic for the comforts of home. "But for now, I would really like to find some shade. I mean, from anything but this!" she said annoyedly at the statue. "Where are the trees? Isn't there even one?" She looked around the small courtyard, which was in fact a natural valley, surrounded by hills on all sides.

"There's one," said Malon, pointing to a small little tree in the corner of the valley, at the edge of the courtyard. "A tree, although it's small, is a sign of life," she said. "Would the princess like me to take her there?"

Link nodded. With a few rolls through the open corner of the courtyard, they closed the distance to the tree quickly, staying low to the ground where shrubbery provided them cover. But as they neared their destination, a guard suddenly walked sharply in their direction, forcing them to duck into the bushes for cover.

"Did he see us?" asked Link panickedly. The thought of being caught by a guard at all was embarrassing enough. But to have her lie about being Zelda exposed to this pretty red-headed girl whom she didn't necessarily like was even more painful of a thought.

"Shh!" Malon mouthed, pushing her over behind a shrub. "Stay down!" she hissed, knocking her onto her back and kneeling over her on all fours. Her red hair tangled artfully onto Link's, and she couldn't help but notice what a wild creature this Hylian was. While most Hylians kept their hair short, it seemed, or wore it straight or braided, Malon's hair was a dignified wave of autumn red, pouring itself unevenly onto her shoulders. As she looked up at her, her heart pounded, and soon she couldn't think of anything but how attractive the girl's aura of nature was.

As the guard's metal boots clanked against the naked dirt on the other side of the short hedge, Link remembered what Navi had told her about Hylians - they were diverse and ungroupable. Some were horrible men, clearly, yet some were delightful and homely, like this sweet, charming girl on top of her. They stared into each other's eyes unspeaking - unbreathing - in total immobile silence as the guards clanked around the area and looked around for them. It felt like minutes before he finally left, and Link awkwardly squirmed out from under the girl at the first permissible moment.

" _Just admit it,_ " pushed Navi, " _You think she's cute, even though she's a Hylian!_ "

" _I don't know what you're talking about,_ " Link denied, all the while knowing helplessly that Navi could hear her thoughts.

"Your tree, my princess," offered Malon, gracefully gesturing a pathway through the hedges with a bowed back and outstretched arm. Link rolled through them hurriedly.

" _Look_ ," said Navi, pointing to some fallen rocks and upturned earth beside the tree. " _It's some kind of hidden passage. Looks like it was covered up_."

"What's that?" Malon asked, pointing to the pile of rocks with curiosity.

"Some kind of hidden passage. Looks like it was covered up," Link repeated with authority.

"Wow," said Malon with awe, "you are so wise."

Link felt around the rubble with some care, realizing that the boulders were too large for her to move without any strength increasing technology. But perhaps she could blast them.

"I'm going to blow a hole in it so we can go through," she announced, reaching into her satchel and pulling out a bombchu.

"You sure that's a good idea?" asked Malon with her eyebrows together in alarm. Link wasn't sure, but it was too late. The bombchu was lit, and it was on the ground, running its cute little path towards the side of the valley with its absolute mission of self-destruction initiated. It climbed into the nest of boulders and then exploded with a sphere of orange, blasting open a surprisingly clean path into the mountainside.

"There's the tunnel," Link said with mild surprise in her voice.

"The guards!" hissed Malon, grabbing Link's hand and pulling her through the opening. The rumble from the explosion had surely attracted some attention. They clamored into the deep cave with haste, leaving the light of the courtyard behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no chance, no way, she won't say it, oh no


	15. Tunnel of Secrets

As they walked through the tunnel, Navi returned to her place in Link's shirt where she could cover her head and hide from the dark. Link's hand was in Malon's as she led the way through the pitch black with careful certainty.

"Are you afraid of the dark too, Malon?"

"I'm not, my princess. Are you?"

"Not at all," Link replied, "it's just you are holding my hand so tightly," she confessed.

"Do we have to be afraid of the dark to hold hands?"

Link's hands were warm, but her chest was icy with fear - not of the dark, but of the girl who was gripping her palm so tightly that it sent shiver down her spine. The ice was her feelings, and its cold hands running down her spine betrayed her steadfast refusal to admit them. It was terrifying how little control she had over them.

" _You liiiiike her_ ," hummed Navi, delighting in every betrayal her body gave her.

" _Don't be ridiculous_ ," returned Link. " _I'm not so simple-minded as to play into the trope of 'girl meets girl' so easily._ "

" _But you are_ ," Navi continued relentlessly. " _Your heart swoons as she holds your hand. Deny it all you want. She's completely got you._ "

" _I would never admit it if she did_ ," whimpered Link. " _That would be far too inconvenient_."

" _Why deny the inconvenience? Embrace it. Indulge in it. Appreciate how deliciously perfect this inconveniently attractive girl is for you. Look - she's a Hylian who likes nature!_."

Link's heart throbbed with internal conflict. Oh, it would be so much easier to just hate this girl, and to spurn whatever feelings she was starting to spill.

She cleared her throat perfunctorily. "Malon, isn't holding hands with another girl, you know, a bit scandalous?" she pressed.

"Well, that's entirely up to you," said Malon. "You are the princess after all," she explained. 

"I am," Link agreed, realizing wide-eyed that she didn't have the mind to act on her assumed authority.

Malon stopped and pulled her around. "Do you think it's strange for girls to hold hands in the dark?" she asked her, keeping her close in her grasp.

"I don't suppose it matters much what anyone does in the dark," whispered Link. The uncertainty in her voice was all Malon had to hear to lean in closer. _Ugh, what a disaster_. If only she could believe she was the Hylian Princess, she could put an end to this madness. But she didn't believe in herself as any kind of Hylian, so she was powerless to the girl's imagination.

She suddenly felt Malon's hands on her waists. "We could do anything in here," she whispered, quieter still. "Like, anything. Even kiss."

Link froze, unable to stop it from happening. She knew that her body was thrilled by the suggestion. She couldn't deny it. She had to! But she couldn't.

"I... um, we could, I suppose-" Link's lips stumbled these words until Malon's were upon them. It was a quick peck, and it was over before Link even knew it was happening. And when it was over, she was immediately disappointed in herself for not dragging it out longer, or appreciating it in the moment it was happening. It felt like a waste.

The ice in her chest fizzled out with bubbles that ran through her body and popped, releasing a feeling of surrender to her whole being. She was inescapably turned by this small Hylian girl, and she couldn't deny that she wanted to kiss her again, as much as it clashed with her self-image.

" _Someone's a thirsty little girl_ ," whispered Navi into her ear. It wasn't fair. She didn't even say out loud how much she wished she could kiss the girl again.

" _Fine, you win_ ," admitted Link begrudgingly.

As she thought this, the tunnel suddenly glowed with ethereal light. The subterranean dirt became lit by torches of aquamarine torches which surrounded them. She heard Malon gasp in shock as they revealed a fountain of glowing water beside them.

"It's beautiful," she remarked with awe, as Link's eyes poured into the pool with wonder. As she hovered over the water, bubbles came from the seemingly infinite depth of it, and in the next moment, a cheerful laugh erupted from its depths, and soon, a large, magenta-haired woman was bursting out of it.

"What is that?" Malon asked in shock. Link shook her head in equal mystification.

“ _It's... it's... it's-_ " Navi tried to say, but her voice squeaked in a dizzy silence as the giant woman looked upon them.

"I'm a Great Fairy," the woman introduced herself, as Navi collapsed on Link's shoulder.

"Malon!" introduced Malon courageously. "It must be my lucky day, meeting a Great Fairy!"

"Luck has nothing to do with it," smiled the Fairy. "I can only appear where love manifests itself in the dark."

"Oh!" said Link. "I think I understand: you're who my fairy was so excited to meet! She mentioned there were five of you."

"Navi, isn't it?" She spoke with a deep, serene voice.

"How did you know?"

"I know most things, Young Link," She smiled. "Yes, I know your name too."

Link blushed surprise into her cheeks as she looked at Malon, trying to come up with an excuse for her appellation.

"I'm sorry, Link is my maiden name," she told her. She realized this claim didn't make any sense, and turned it into an apology. "I'm sorry I lied about being Princess Zelda."

"It's okay," Malon smiled. "I'm not a stranger to fantasy myself."

"Link!" announced the Fairy, "as one of the Great Fairies of Magic, it is my purpose to pass along to you magic of the Gods. I am one of the Fairies who was well acquainted with **Din**."

"Din?"

"Din made the lands of Hyrule once. Her magic is now in me, and from here on forth, shall be in you!"

Link's body glowed orange and she felt her muscles relax, flowing with ethereal warmth. "I feel it," she said.

The Fairy giggled, and Her voice echoed through the tunnels with warmth. "Then go, Link! There are many, many Great Fairies in Hyrule. A dark cloud looms over Hyrule, and only one with the magic of the gods and Triforce can bring us back from the depths of that dark fate. Find my sisters, and bring justice to Hyrule."

With those words she vanished back into the water with her roaring laughter, and Link felt for the first time like she knew what her mission was.

"I have to find the other Great Fairies," she realized aloud. Navi was still passed out, leaning on her neck dramatically. Link picked her up and dropped her into her shirt, where she was sure to be comfortable.

"I assume you'll need to kiss someone each time," Malon prodded. "Isn't that exciting?"

"Oh, yeah," said Link, her cheeks turning a little pink in the green light of the tunnel as she remembered the lips that were just on her own with some surprising fondness.

"But first - we need to get you to Princess Zelda," she said, leading her towards the other end of the tunnel, where a light was emerging as they approached. When they entered into the light, they were right outside the castle, and there were no guards in sight. She was so close to Zelda - finally, she was about to meet her. Her heart thumped a little with excitement.

On the side of the stone castle, Malon spotted her father, passed out on some crates and holding a bottle to his chest. She woke him up with scolds, and when he came to, he drunkenly greeted Link with far too much enthusiasm. He wouldn't stop talking about how excited he was for Malon to finally have a _female_ friend. He kept mentioning that she should come by the ranch sometime to hang out, and that Malon get lonely whenever gets she can't be with the horses, which is far more often than she would like, and that he regrets that. Link didn't know how to respond to any of this, so she smiled and nodded with mirrored blank enthusiasm until Malon physically pushed him away with an embarrassed look on her face.

"I'm sorry about that," Malon said, suddenly avoiding Link's eyes with her own and staring at the ground.

"I'm the one who should be sorry," mumbled Link chaotically, not sure exactly what she was sorry for.

"You have to go!" Malon announced, pushing Link towards a window in the stone castle. A guard was coming around to the side of the castle. "Go, meet her!"

Link stumbled backwards towards the window entrance. Suddenly, she felt an urge. She wanted to give Malon a good-bye kiss. But before she could, Malon pushed her again towards the stone, hissing " _GO!_ " and practically shoving her through the open window. With some regret, Link stumbled through the windowsill and collapsed onto the hard floor beneath it. She heard a whistle, and then running footsteps, and soon, Malon's voice was speaking.

"My father and I got lost," she cried to the guard. "Please take us back to Castle Town?"

Her soft, sweet, melodic voice was in her ears, and it made her heart move. Her song pulled her in and made her realize that Hylian girls can be sweet, and sincere, and fantastical, and they were perhaps worthy of her affection.

Link was changed. She was ready to meet the princess, and now - she was only steps away.


	16. Through The Window

Link dashed around corners within the castle walls. She needed to find Zelda and get her blessing to go to Death Mountain so that she could retrieve the Goron Ruby. After that, it would be the Zora Sapphire and then the Kokiri Emerald. Although, the whole mission felt like a bit of a drag. She would much rather be going around Hyrule trying to find all the Great Fairies in the land, because that meant she got to _kiss_ girls, which she recently realized was great.

But before she got to meet any more girls, she had to talk to Zelda, with whom her business was strictly business. If only Navi wasn't passed out on her shoulder, she could be some use in guiding her around this maze of hallways in the castle. The castle was eerily empty, which was creepy, although convenient.

She ran into an open green area, surrounded with indoor plants. It was warm and hard to see anything clearly in here. _Ugh_. This was taking too long. She was tired, and she missed Malon. She wanted to go find another pretty girl to flirt with, and the sooner she could talk to this Zelda person the sooner she could leave.

Then she saw her. Long, golden hair, drifting down to her waisted in delicate brushed lines, and smooth, purple silks adorning her pecan skin from the chest down showed off her beautifully average form. She was neither slender or strongly-built - her exposed shoulders were lightly toned and a bit smaller than Link's, and her body was mildly plump. Her legs dangled off the edge of a windowsill within her silver dress and showed her remarkably under-stepped and manicured feet, whose toes brushed the stone floor beneath them with a gentle sway. 

Link wasn't expecting this. She didn't think the princess would be anything less than a doll wrapped in gold. She didn’t think she would be _pretty_. At least, not by her standards. She thought she would be the kind of pretty that has been pruned and purposed for older men that really only made her sick. But contrary to her expectations, the princess she saw looked fabulously beautiful in the most obvious ways. She could see some of every Hylian she had met so far in her, and that made her elegantly simple.

Link stood there in the plants for a couple minutes, just staring at her and appreciating her _gorgeous_ form, watching like a pervert the girl leaning gently on the sill with her ear on the window. It was rude to stare, she knew, but she couldn't help it. Her brain had turned into cotton candy, and she didn't know how she should approach her.

"Hey!" she called at last, interrupting the silence and jumping into the open with a shy wave.

" _Who the fuck--?_ " the Princess turned around and shot purple dust from her fingers, which blasted into Link and suspended her into a state of paralysis. Zelda glared at her with intense annoyance.

"My name is-" Link began.

"Shh!" hissed Zelda, shutting her up. She seemed to be listening to something. Link couldn't hear what it was, so after a while, she opened her mouth to speak again.

"I need to-"

"Hey, shut up. Can't you see I've got serious business to attend to?" she seethed.

"... eavesdropping?"

Zelda clicked her tongue and then dragged her across the room with magic, dropping her to the stone floor at her feet. "It's conspiracy," she explained, gesturing towards the window she was leaning over.

Somehow, the room felt familiar, and she felt like it was fate that she was here, witnessing this very discussion.

"Hmm?"

"My father is too blind to see it," Zelda continued with a frustrated sigh, lifting Link up and showing her what she could through the window. A large stone-walled room was below them, and at the floor about twenty feet below, men stood around a table and spoke in turn with loud voices.

"We do not have the budget for such a project as this," came the rusty voice of the pale-skinned man at the head of the table. The other men murmured in dismay and disagreement.

"Then we will make a budget," responded one of the men. Link had seen this man before. He was tall, dark-eyed, and wrapped in cruel leathers. She had seen him in a dream.

"I need to know that these new weapons will work, **Ganondorf** ," said the man at the head of the table. "We cannot afford any wasteful endeavours."

"My King, you have entrusted me with developing the most efficient and reliable defense tools known to Hyrule. I can assure you, we can show you a working prototype, if you would graciously provide us with the resources necessary to make it."

Zelda shook her dejectedly. "That is Ganondorf, one of my father's advisors," she explained in a whisper, as the King paused in calculation of his next words.

"Ganondorf, I trust you the way a father trusts his son. But I need to know without uncertainty that this is a safe investment," spoke the King.

The men around the table began to clamor and yell in disagreement. It was madness, with each of them shouting in angry attempts of persuasion at the King, who shrunk beneath their arguments.

"He is being made a fool of by his own counsel," Zelda commented with despair in her eyes. "Ganondorf has turned them. He’s turned them all. They're supposed to be loyal to the Royal Family's wishes, but I fear..."

"Gents!" roared the man named Ganondorf, "this is no place for a riot. This is the King's office, for Nayru's sake! Have some respect!"

The men ceased their chaotic squabble. The King stood up from his seat and walked away from the table before turning back to look at Ganondorf.

"You are a man of great envy, Ganondorf," he said. "I am proud to lead a kingdom where anyone can become anything, and you exemplify that perfectly well, Gerudo Son. Yes, the fact that a Gerurdo would lead the King's Defense Bureau - the very whisper of such a thing would have been laughable mere decades ago. Look how far we have progressed."

Ganondorf bowed and bent a knee.

"It is no accident that you are where you are," continued the King. "You are a talented craftsman, and you have served me thus far without fail. Very well, you may have your funds."

"Thank you, my lord," said the evil man. The rest of the crowd of men similarly got down to their knees to bow. To whom they were bowing was unclear.


	17. The Contract

"He's poisoned all the counsel to his will. None I fear have loyalty left for my father."

Zelda's face was frantic. She paced away from the window with her fingers bent to her forehead, lost in thought. She seemed to be in a cold sweat, and somehow, the desperation on her face only made her more pretty.

"Um," called Link, who was still paralyzed and leaning against stone by the window, "so, this might not be the best time, but you're _really hot_ ," she confessed.

Zelda didn't stop pacing. "You are not a spy," she calculated, "because espionage require a certain degree of intelligence which you lack. Unless being dumb is actually simply your cover? Hmm," she thought.

"I'm not a spy," agreed Link, "I'm just a Hylian girl who's supposed to marry you someday," she said with sweet fondness on her face.

"Oh, ho-ho-ho," laughed Zelda, her face rich with offended alarm. "Don't they take a girl to dinner first wherever you're from?"

"No," answered Link honestly, because there was no such thing as restaurants or eating out in the Kokiri Forest. "But I make really good Deku Seed cereal if you want some."

Zelda zapped her with gold sparks as she put on a sour expression. "I don't have time for your jokes. Who are you? And what do you want?"

"Babies?" replied Link’s cotton candy brain.

Zelda’s offense at that utterance was so great that it warranted a slap across the face. 

"I'm sorry, let me start again. I'm Link," she said finally, trying to remember what it was in the first place she was supposed to talk to Zelda about before she turned out to be attractive. "Oh! Death Mountain. I need to go there."

"Oh," said Zelda. "Yes, I think it would be a great idea to go to Death Mountain!" she enthused.

"Really?"

"Yes! Then you can die in a rock-slide! And then I can get back to trying to save my kingdom from an _evil monster_!" She threw her purple-sleeved arms in the air frustratedly, accidentally sending Link tumbling forward with magic. She fell flat on her face and ate stone, because she still couldn't move her arms to catch herself. Sharp pain erupted from her face and she was pretty sure she broke something. As she looked up, she saw her still-unconscious fairy had tumbled out of her crop-top and on the stone. Then, she saw red. Blood was flowing from her nose, which was brutally smashed.

"Oh no, you poor thing!" gasped Zelda with remorse in her voice. Link could tell she felt bad, because she kneeled next to her face and began some kind of healing spell.

"Oh, I'll be okay," laughed Link, "this nothing compared to when I--"

Zelda ignored her and lifted Navi into her hands gently. The fairy stood up in her fair palms and stretched with a yawn. "Thank goodness, you're okay," Zelda exclaimed with a sweet voice full of wonder and worry.

"Oh, hey, look who it is," spoke Navi as she came to. "Nice to officially meet you, Princess Zelda."

"You two met before?" Link asked with annoyance in her voice.

"Ah, not exactly," said Navi.

"The Gods gave me a vision,” Zelda continued. “They told me that I would be visited by a fairy, and that the fairy would bring the one who wields the..." she looked down at Link with disdain in her green eyes. She reached out a hand and held the back of Link’s in hers. "Trash," she hissed with clenched teeth.

"What gives!" yelled Link, finally fed up with the constant snark coming from the Princess. "Why are you so mean to me? I thought it was my destiny to meet you!"

Zelda sighed, and pulled Link up onto her feet, dispelling the paralysis spell. "Destiny's a bitch," she explained, without really explaining anything. "Here," she said, waving her hand in her face briefly to cast a spell. "Should slow the bleeding down," she grumbled.

Link didn't really notice a difference. Her nose still hurt. "What's wrong?" she asked impetuously. "Most girls just think it's cool when I have a fairy, but it's like you hate that I have a fairy."

"Yes, well, I hate a lot of things you have," seethed Zelda.

Link sighed in confusion. "Navi, can you explain please?" she begged. 

Navi shook her head. "You and Zelda are contracted by destiny through the Triforce. The Trifoce binds your fates and causes your destinies to be intertwined, but there is nothing simple or clean about it. The Triforce chose you both, and thus you must both play the role you are assigned, regardless of what lives you have led up to this point."

Link didn't understand the meaning of this contract, but she had a feeling she didn’t really need to. "Oh, yeah, Navi, speaking of Gods,” she remembered. “The Great Fairy-”

“The Great Fairy!” Navi interjected. “Was she beautiful?”

“Well, she was very large,” answered Link, “and also she knew your name.”

With this, Navi passed out on Link’s shoulder again.

“Anyway,” she continued to Zelda, “We met this Great Fairy, and she gave me the power of Din!"

"Din?" Zelda interrogated. She rushed up to her face and nearly spat in it while she shouted the words: "Prove it! Show me!"

"Uh..." thought Link, unsure of what she meant. "I mean, she added her power to mine, so I guess, in a way, I am the proof."

Zelda's anger rose, and she bit her lip and turned away.

"You were blessed with the spell of a Goddess and you don't even know how to use it," she breathed, her voice quivering in frustrated tears. "The Triforce is clearly confused. It sent the wrong girl to go on this journey."

Not too long ago, Link would've been inclined to agree. But now, she didn't want to give any reason for her to not be a part of this story.

"There is no mistake about it. I, Link, will save Hyrule someday, and when I do, then I'm going to marry you," she declared. "And you're going to give me a letter of permission to go to Death Mountain, right now."

Zelda faced her with some surprise in her face, but it quickly turned to doubt. She lifted her hand into the air, summoning a sword to it with magic. "Prove it," she said. "I've studied magic my whole life to be a warrior. And I am no lesser at the sword." She closed in on her with the long blade held steadily in her hands.

"Um... well, sorry, would you rather go yourself?" offered Link, while raising her own sword as a safety measure.

"Go myself? _Go myself!?_ " Zelda laughed with hysterics swinging the sword haphazardly. "Oh, yes, I'll just waltz out of here and _do it myself_ \-- oh, you know I wish I could, you _spoiled brat_ ," she raged, raising her sword over her head with two hands. Link tried to deflect the swing with her Kokiri Sword, but it flew out of her hand immediately and fell to the ground several feet away.

"Pick it up," demanded Zelda, "and next time, bend your knees and grasp your sword firmly, if you want to absorb the impact," she instructed.

Why was she being attacked one minute, and then given advice the second? Link thought it was very confusing, but also very sexy. Zelda scolded her for taking too long to pick up her sword and she enjoyed it.

"Feet solid on the ground," she demanded once Link was armed again, preparing to swing once more. When they collided this time, Link held her ground, and her sword stayed in her tightly clenched hands, but the blunt forces of Zelda's blow knocked her onto her butt.

"You fall, you're dead," Zelda told her, resting the tip of her sword on Link's neck and poking her skin seductively. At least, Link thought it was seductive.

The sexy teacher roleplay was really working for her, but she also wished she could show Zelda that she wasn't _that_ bad of a fighter. With Navi guiding her, she felt like she could maneuver her sword so easily and powerfully. Navi was coming to, blinking her eyes open.

"Navi, can't you help me?" she asked.

The fairy shook her arms negatively. "I'm not getting involved in this."

"You useless filth," Zelda spat. "You're nothing without your fairy."

Link stood up. She tried to focus on keeping her feet on the ground and her knees bent as she repelled another one of Zelda's swings. Their swords met, and she held her stance. She was proud of herself - too proud, in fact. In a split second, her opponent twisted Link’s sword around hers and knocked it out of her hand, catching it in her own.

"Now I have both swords," Zelda announced victoriously.

Link reached into her satchel for another weapon. She found a Deku Stick, and brought it to bare. Zelda simply scissored it with the two swords and watched it fall to the ground bisected. Then Link reached for another weapon. Her hands fell upon the Lens of Truth, and she brandished it like a knife.

Zelda's face went shallow. "Where did you find that?" she asked with ice in her eyes as she gazed upon it.

"Etsy," answered Link, which of course was something that existed in Hyrule. As she pointed the Lens at the princess, she realized that it must hold some important meaning to her based on her reaction. "Think fast," she said, tossing the Lens at her. Zelda automatically dropped both swords from her hands to catch it, and Link rolled forward and caught them in her hands, pointing them up at Zelda from the ground she was lying on with a triumphant laugh.

"Got ya," she cried with a smirk. She was really proud of herself now.

Zelda's face only displayed awe and confusion as she held up the Lens in her hands. "This should not be," she said, transfixed on the lettering on the tool. She began to pace again. Link stood up to tr and get her attention, but she couldn't seem to shake her from the trance. 

"It's call the Lens of-"

"Truth, I know," Zelda finished, seemingly lost in interpreting its text. "I gotta go consult my records," she finished, walking past Link. "Thank you," she added idly, kissing her on cheek as she passed, then pausing, as if to wonder why she did it.

Link's cheek stung where the princess lips had pecked it. She fondled the sting with feverish amazement. It was wet and magical and it made her heart sing.

She couldn't _believe_ what just happened. She _kissed_ her. They _kissed_.

"For the record," Zelda dismissed, her face somewhat stiff and flushed. She couldn't believe it either. "I only did that because I was very distracted. That doesn’t count, so let's forget that ever happened." She continued walking on and disappeared off between the halls, presumably heading to her room.

Link was counting it. She stood there touching her cheek for a moment, thinking about the day she could meet Zelda again and once more meet her lips, next time with her own. Then she started dancing around on one foot, her face stricken with an ecstatic grin.

Suddenly, another presence was in the room, and it was speaking before Link even noticed it was there. It was a tall woman, clad in blue armor.

"That definitely doesn’t count," it said.


End file.
